====== v7.3.6 — SQLite sidecar stability ======

Published October 27 UTC on [[https://github.com/Aves-Knoot/poolrotater-v7-pilot/releases/tag/v7.3.6|GitHub]] and the signed pilot feed. An offer or download is not an installed update; check [[status:start|Live Lobbies]] for room versions.

Routine SQLite checks now retry briefly when a private optional journal, WAL or SHM file is observed during a concurrent unlink or ownership handoff. Persistent unsafe metadata remains refused. Refusals report a metadata category without exposing paths, account IDs or database contents.

The release retains v7.3.5's separate difficulty preferences for Standard, Catch, Taiko, Mania 4K and Mania 7K. Earlier mixed Standard/Catch records are not guessed or copied. There are no new player commands or database schema migrations.

===== Qualification and deployment =====

The exact runtime passed an automatic v7.3.4 donor upgrade with all six full catalogs, an interrupted download, a valid waiting settings change, an occupied match, active private booking protection and cleanup, independent empty-room draining, helper interruption/retry, and guarded recovery after a controller interruption with every room confirmed closed. Intended rooms reopened, reserved slots stayed stopped, configuration and seeded data were preserved, and the recovery pin refreshed without a controller restart. A separate stopped v7.3.5 upgrade preserved 11 synthetic databases. No actual account or room was used.

Focused metadata and predecessor-contract tests passed. The affected booking modules passed after the missing test dependency was supplied. Full repository and real gameplay tests were not repeated for this localized successor. Exact validation evidence and observer limitations ship with the release.

Exact pinned v7.3.3, v7.3.4 and v7.3.5 predecessors are supported by the operator kit. Installed tests cover automatic v7.3.4 and stopped v7.3.5; the v7.3.3 contract was checked offline. Existing settings, enrollment, ratings and statistics remain in place. The existing hub is compatible and needs no restart.

**First-transition limitation:** Already-running workers older than v7.3.5 do not gain its scheduled-refresh fence merely because an update is offered. A room refresh can still make that first drain stop for review. Retain state and use supported recovery; do not bypass unknown ownership or a partially committed operation. Already-held hosts may require a local diagnostic.

Runtime SHA-256: ''d7349626d4a38e8d0db3fdba0903562dd93726c1c257895e3f0c94cd4c617c04''.